Locking device for drink dispensers



Oct 85 1968 s. E. AHLMAN LOCKING DEVICE FOR DRINK DISPFNSRS Filed Jan. lO, 1967 55x7w f. ,4A/f. A44/v A TORNEYS United States Patent O Y 3,404,547 LDCKING DEVICE FOR DRINK DISPENSERS Sexten E. Ahlman, 3347 Thornbury Drive, Glenview, Ill. 60025 Filed Jan. 10, 1967, Ser. No. 608,357 4 Claims. (CI. 70-199) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Locking device for soft drink dispensers in the form of a casing secured to the cabinet of the dispenser and having slotted openings therein to receive the valve opening levers of the dispenser, when in their valve closing positions, and to accommodate the levers to be moved outwardly of the casing into valve opening positions. An intercepter bar is slidably guided in the casing and has slots registrable with the slots in the casing to accommodate operation `of the dispenser levers when the bar is in lits released position. This bar has intercepter walls extending along the inside of the outer wall of the casing for a portion of the length of the slots in the intercepter bar, but terminating from the ends of said slots a distance suflicient to accommodate operation of the dispenser levers when the intercepter bar is in its released position. The dispenser levers are locked from operation by depressing the intercepter bar against a spring to close the open ends of the slots of the casing, and thereby intercept the path of movement of the drink dispenser levers. A key operated mechanism locks the intercepter bar in va locking position.

Summary ,of invention and objects The locking device of the present invention provides a simple and effective means `for locking drink dispensers, such as dispensers for dispensing cola and other drinks from unauthorized operation. The locking device is adapted to be mounted on the cabinet of the drink dispenser and provide an unobstrusive locking device, which doesnt mar the decorativeness of the dispenser and positively locks the dispenser from operation, by the simple operation of depressing an intercepter bar intercepting the paths of movement of the levers, and then turning a key to lock the intercepter bar in its intercepting position.

A principal object of the presenting invention, therefore, is to provide a simple and improved form of locking device forming a part of a drink dispenser, and locking the dispenser levers from operation by intercepting` the paths of travel thereof in valve opening directions.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved form of locking device for locking dispensing levers of drink dispensers from unauthorized operation, by the mere depression of an intercepter bar and the turning of a key operated lever, to lock the bar in its intercepting position.

These and other objects of the invention will -appear from time to time as the following specification proceeds and with reference to the` accompanying drawings.

Description of the drawings valve operating dispenser levers shown in vertical section;

FIGURE 2 is a partial fragmentary vertical sectional view looking substantially along line II-II of FIGURE l, with certain parts broken away;

3,404,547 Patented Oct. 8, 1968 ICC Description of the prefered embodiment of the invention In FIGURE 1 of the drawings, I have shown in phantom, a portion of the front end of a drink dispenser 10 having spaced valve operating levers 11, 11 operable to dispense a selected drink, such as a cola drink or other soft drink, by pulling movement on individual handles 12 for said levers, to pivot said levers about the axes of transverse pivot pins 13, to open a selected valve 15, generally shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, in a conventional manner.

The drink dispenser 10 may be of a well known commercial form commonly used to dispense la variety of soft drinks, and is no part of the present invention so need not herein be shown or described further.

A locking device 16 constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention is shown as extending along the bottom of the casing for the dispenser 10, and as being secured thereto as by machine screws 17. The locking device 16 is shown as including a casing 18 shown in FIGURE 5 as being generally cylindrical in form. The casing 18 has spaced access openings 19 in the bottom thereof, affording access to the machine screws 17. The casing 18 also has a closed end 20 and an opposite open end 21, adapted to slidably receive an intercepter bar 23 having a key cylinder 24 mounted in the open end of said intercepter bar, and with said intercepter bar, closing the end of the casing 18.

As shown in FIGURES l and 2 the casing 18 has a plurality of downwardly opening slots 25 formed therein, receiving the dispenser levers 11 when the valves 15 are in their closed positions, and accommodating downward movement of said dispenser levers about the axes of the pivot pins 13, to move the valves 15 in valve opening directions to dispense a selected drink.

The intercepter bar 23 is of a generally cylindrical form slidably movable within the casing 18 although neither the casing nor intercepter bar need be cylindrical. An end 26 of said intercepter bar opposite the key cylinder 24 is abutted by a washer and spring 27, seated on the end wall 20 of the casing 18, and biasing the intercepter bar 23 in -a valve opening direction.

The intercepter bar 23 has a plurality of elongated slots 29 formed therein, registrable with the slots 25 formed in the casing 18. The slots 29 are of a length eq-ual t0 at least twice the thickness dimensions of a dispensing lever 11. When the intercepterbar is in position within the casing 18, the spring 27 biases the bar to register the slots 29 with the slots 25 in said casing, to accommodate free depressible movement of the dispenser levers 11, to effect the dispensing of a selected drink.

The slots 29 in the intercepter bar 23 have bottom inter cepting walls 30 extending therealong for a portion of the length thereof, but stopping short of the ends of said slots distances sufficient to accommodate free depressible movement of the dispenser levers 11, when the intercepter bar is in its spring biased release position. As the intercepter bar, however, is depressibly moved within the casing 1-8 the intercepting bottom walls 30 will close the bottoms of the slots 25 and prevent downward movement of the dispenser levers 11 in valve opening directions.

The intercepter Ibar 23 is held in aligned relation with respect to the casing 18 by means of an aligning pin 31 threaded in the casing 18 from the back thereof. The aligning pin 31 may have a smooth round inner end portion (not shown) slidably engageable with an aligning slot 32 for-med in the back wall of the intercepter bar 23.

` The key cylinder 24 may be of a conventional form, mounted in the opposite end of the intercepter bar 23 from the inner end 26 thereof. The key cylinder 24 may have a 4key plug 33 rotatably mounted therein and turned by -a key 35. The key plug 33 has a squared inner end 36 forming a mounting for the locking lever 37, for turning said locking lever upon turning of the key plug 33 by operation of the key 35. A machine screw 39 is provided to hold the locking lever 37 in engagement with the squared end 36 of the key plug 33. The key cylinder and plug may be of any conventional form, so need not herein be sworn or described further.

The locking lever 37 moves angularly along a slot 40, formed in the back wall of the intercepter bar 23 and extends beyond said intercepter bar into a circumferential `recess 41, formed in the inner periphery of the casing 118 (FIGURE The recess 41 extends for a portion of the circumference of the casing 18 and terminates into an elongated inwardly opening slot 43 extending axially along said casing from said recess and opening to the outer end of said casing 18.

When the locking lever 37 is in the position shown in FIGURE 5 at one end of the slot 40, the intercepter bar 23 is llocked in the locking position shown in FIGURE l. As the locking lever 37 is moved in a clockwise direction into registry with the slot 43, the spring 27 will bias the intercepter bar 23 to release position, with the intercepting walls 30 out of registry with the dispenser levers 11. A drink may then be freely dispensed by the pulling of the hand levers 12 toward the operator and effect downward movement of the dispenser levers 11 about the axes of the pivot pins 13. A set screw 44 is provided to hold the key cylinder in position within the intercepter bar 23.

It may be seen from the foregoing that a simple and improved form of locking device has been provided for the dispensing levers of a drink dispenser, which operates on the principles of mounting an intercepter bar within a casing and mounting the casing to receive the valve opening dispensing levers of the dispenser, and then depressing the intercepter bar along the casing, to intercept the paths of movement of the dispenser levers, and thereby lock the dispenser from operation.

It may further be seen that the locking device of the invention is of a simple and compact form, does not detract from the appearance of the dispenser casing, and is of a safe tamper-proof construction, with the screws screwing the casing of the locking device to the dispenser housing, unaccessible as long as the intercepter bar is in position in the locking casing.

While I have herein shown and described one form in which the invention may be embodied, it may readily be understood that various variations and modifications in the invention may be attained without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts thereof.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a locking device for a drink dispenser and in combination with a dispenser cabinet having at least one pivoted valve opening dispenser lever, the improvements comprising:

a hollow lock casing extending along and secured to a wall of the cabinet and having at least one outwardly opening slot therein registerable with the pivoted dispenser lever and accommodating movement of the dispenser lever outwardly of the casing when moving to a valve opening position, an intercepter member slidably mounted in said casing and having a slot therein registerable with a valve operating lever receiving slot`in said casing and axially longer than the slot in said casing, to accommodate movement of the intercepter member along its axis without interfering with the pivoted valve lever, said slot in said intercepter member having an outer intercepting wall extending for a portion of the length of the slot in said intercepter member and terminating from the end of said slot in said intercepter member a distance sufficient to accommodate the pivoted lever to pass outwardly of said housing, spring means seated at one end of said casing and engaging said intercepter member and biasing said intercepter member into an open position with said intercepting `wall extending along the wall of said casing out of registry with the slot in said casing to accommodate valve opening movement,

a key cylinder mounted in the opposite end of said intercepter member from said spring and having a barrel turnable `by a key,

a slot in said intercepter member extending transversely thereof adjacent said key cylinder,

a locking lever secured to the inner end of said barrel and extending through said transversely extending slot in said intercepter member,

a transversely extending inwardly opening recess in said casing adapted to be engaged by said locking lever to lock said intercepter member from slidable movement along said casing and lock said intercepting wall in registry with said outwardly opening slot in said casing, and

an inwardly opening slot extending axially along said casing from said recess to the open end of said casing and registerable with said locking lever when in an unlocked position, to accommodate movement of said intercepter member to a lever release position by the bias of said spring.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein machine screws are provided to secure said casing to said cabinet, wherein aligning means are provided to prevent turning movement of said intercepter member with respect to said casing, and wherein said intercepter member when in position in said casing in both its release and intercepting positions, prevents access to said machine screws.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein the dispenser cabinet has a plurality of laterally spaced pivoted valve opening levers transversely pivoted thereto beneath the bottom of said cabinet and extending along the bottom of said cabinet and upwardly along a wall thereof, wherein the casing is mounted on the bottom wall of said cabinet and has a plurality of downwardly opening slots therein, each of which slots is registerable with the dispensing lever to receive the dispensing lever when said lever is in a valve closing position, and accommodating movement of said lever outwardly of said casing into a valve opening position, wherein the intercepting member is hollow and has one closed end and an opposite open end and conforms to and is mounted in said casing for slidable movement therealong, wherein the spring means engages the closed end of said intercepter member, wherein the intercepter member has a plurality of outwardly opening slots therein registerable with said slots in said casing and longer than said slots in said casing to accommodate said intercepter member to move along said casing into release and intercepting positions, wherein each of said slots has Va bottom intercepting wall extending for a portion of the length thereof, and terminating from the end of the slot a distance sufficient to accommodate a valve opening lever to pass thereby, and movable to close said slots in said casing to intercept movement of the valve opening levers in valve opening directions, when said intercepter member is in a locked position, wherein the key cylinder is mounted in the open end of said intercepter member and extends along said intercepter member of a portion of the length thereof, and positions the locking lever for registry with said transversely extending slot in said intercepter member 5 6 and said transverse inwardly opening recess in said casing References Cited to lock said intercepter member in position in said casing UNITED STATES PATENTS to prevent operation of said dispenser levers.

2,603,080 7/1952 Earnhart 70--232 turning movement of said intercepter member with respect to said casing, and wherein said intercepter member l when in position in said casing in both its release and MARVIN A' CHAMPION P'lmary Examme intercepting positions, prevents access to said machine j() R. L. WOLFE, Assistant Examiner. screws. 

